Former NAB repo trader seeks to reveal male pay in discrimination, harassment case
The bank’s former head of repo trading has restarted her discrimination case with a bid to reveal the pay packets of male counterparts.
Business
Don't miss out on the headlines from Business. Followed categories will be added to My News.
National Australia Bank’s former head of repo trading has restarted her discrimination case against the bank, launching a bid to reveal pay packets for men in the bank’s markets team as she attempts to prove she was underpaid.
Appearing in court on Wednesday, lawyers for the former head of repo trading Dikele Diawara revealed attempts to settle the harassment and discrimination case with the bank had failed after going to mediation in September last year.
Christopher Parkin, appearing for Ms Diawara, flagged intentions to launch an application for discovery to reveal the pay packets commanded by male members of NAB’s markets team.
Mr Parkin said the application would form part of a broader effort by Ms Diawara to prove her claim that NAB’s markets team had a “boys club” culture, that saw women silenced, and her claims against “that particular manager”.
But NAB pushed back on Ms Diawara’s claim, with Robyn Sweet, appearing for the bank, saying the application was “premature” and wouldn’t illuminate information that would be useful to the court. “What we see as being sought is extremely broad and extremely cumbersome on the respondent,” she said.
Ms Sweet said NAB had made “repeated offers” to give Ms Diawara’s “any particular document that she would like us to provide”.
“My learned friend knows who she thinks her actual comparators were,” she said. “She’s been able to claim base salary figures for these people. There must be a basis for her to say that or she wouldn’t be putting her case into pleadings.”
Justice Melissa Perry said the question over pay “goes to the heart” of the case and whether “there has been discriminating conduct”, but said both sides needed to finalise their pleadings before the matter could progress further.
She ordered Ms Diawara’s lawyers to file their updated statement of claim by 4pm on Thursday, in a move expected to see little change to her initial claims against the bank.
NAB was given until March 22 to update its defence.
Ms Diawara first filed her case against NAB in April last year, claiming she had been subjected to years of underpayment, racial and sexual discrimination, and ignored by her manager Tim McCaughey who allegedly repeatedly humiliated or ignored her.
The French national claimed Mr McCaughey threatened her with a baseball bat in or about late 2019 or early 2020, “clubbing” a baseball bat in his hands, telling her he didn’t want to hear about a customer “asking about NAB’s ability to deal repo” in residential mortgage-backed securities.
The long-time NAB employee claims the bank’s culture and Mr McCaughey’s treatment of her drove her to depression, and she was subject to behaviour that would not have happened if she were not female, black or French.
NAB, which rejects Ms Diawara’s claims, says the baseball bat was a “fidget toy” Mr McCaughey carried around the trading room.
The bank said Ms Diawara was supported by Mr McCaughey, who assisted the repo trader in resolving a number of issues and complimented her work.
In her 17-page complaint, Ms Diawara alleges NAB used discriminatory pay practices that saw her paid significantly less than men in the same or similar roles within the bank.
She claims this was because she was a black woman from France.
Ms Diawara claimed when she brought up her poor pay with NAB head of global repo David Bateman in 2017 nothing was done until 2019 when the bank handed her a $150,000 pay bump, with no change in her role.
But she claims the bank did not back-pay her or “otherwise compensate the applicant for the period of time she worked” while paying her “less than her male peers”.
Ms Diawara also alleges when she attempted to raise her treatment with Mr Bateman and intentions to file a formal complaint against Mr McCaughey she was allegedly told it would “have big consequences for her future given she was a woman with a leadership position in financial services”.
But NAB claims Mr Bateman has “no memory of the applicant complaining of the matters” and rejects the claims she discussed “any complaints about bullying or discrimination by Mr McCaughey or any other person” with him.
NAB commissioned an external legal review into the culture of the markets team, which the bank noted was 90-94 per cent male, after The Australian revealed senior managers within the team told staff to fabricate overly positive responses to workplace surveys
This saw NAB chief executive Ross McEwan directly intervene in the team, warning bank staff the culture surveys were “not a game to be manipulated.
The review, handed to NAB senior management in September, cleared the market team, finding it to be “friendly, inclusive, fair, caring, and supportive”.
Originally published as Former NAB repo trader seeks to reveal male pay in discrimination, harassment case
The best ETFs of the past five years
Exchange traded funds, which let investors buy into entire sectors or markets with just one transaction, are going from strength to strength. But some ETFs are stronger than others.
Cyclists seeking workplace solutions
A survey has found people would be more likely to cycle to work if they had a workplace closer to home, and cyclists say employers should do more to encourage them.